Radio România Internațional

Tag: Romanian police

  • Failures for the Romanian Police

    Failures for the Romanian Police

    Romanian law enforcement is the headline grabbing topic
    these days, but not for its merits, but rather for its failures. Interior
    Minister Lucian Bode has announced the recent dismissal of the Bacău Police County Inspectorate and the Oneşti Police Inspectorate,
    after a recent homicide in eastern Romania. The Romanian official also
    announced and investigation on charges of dereliction of duty, as the seriousness
    of incident had been ignored, the data gathered had been insufficient and the
    superiors hadn’t been fully informed. On Monday, two workers renovating an
    apartment in Oneşti were killed by the former landlord, angry for having been
    evicted. Negotiations with law enforcement agents failed, and police opened
    fire to enter the apartment where the 70-year-old landlord was keeping the two
    workers hostage. The killer was shot and taken to the hospital. The Interior
    Minister says a full report will be issued in this case, where there are suspicions
    that the law enforcement officers’ lack of professionalism actually caused the
    hostages being killed. The Interior Minister has also confirmed that one of the
    victims was shot by one of the rubber bullets fired by the police. Lucian Bode.


    The body of one of the victims showed marks of non-lethal ammunition.
    It is possible he was shot while the police stormed the apartment. We have an
    ongoing criminal investigation, which has confirmed two cartridges were fired,
    each cartridge consisting of 15 rubber balls. The investigation will give us
    the exact spot of the shooters and the victims.


    Meanwhile, the Bucharet Tribunal ordered the pre-trial arrest of three
    police officers working at a station in Bucharest and placing another three
    officers under judicial control for 60 days. The officers stand accused of
    beating and torturing two young men in 2020 who warned them they weren’t
    wearing face masks and that they were awarding fines without good reason. The
    officers abandoned the two beaten men by an empty land. The incident is the
    latest in a long series of police abuses reported in the last year since the
    pandemic struck. Commentators have harshly accused the police of abusing their
    prerogatives, saying local law enforcement agencies employ people of doubtful
    qualification and that the reform of the system implemented 15 years ago is an
    obvious failure. Many mayors who’ve recently been elected have promised to
    eliminate all ineffective law enforcement agencies. Former public guards, who
    merely patrolled markets and parks, were requalified as community police
    officers. They were given cars, guns, ammo and the right to fine and arrest
    people. But not the right to torture them. Still, to many such individuals,
    there’s a fine line between doing your job and abusing it. (V.P.)



  • September 29, 2018 UPDATE

    September 29, 2018 UPDATE

    FUND – The Romanian Ministry of Public Finance
    has launched a bill aimed at defining the legal framework for the Sovereign
    Development and Investment Fund for public debate. The fund will be a Romanian
    judicial entity whose organization and functioning are regulated by Government
    decree. The Fund will be a joint stock company owned entirely by the Romanian
    state. According to the Finance Ministry, the Fund is aimed at developing and
    financing sustainable investment projects using its own funds. It will bring
    together 33 state-owned companies, with a total social capital of some 2
    billion euros.




    MEETING – Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu
    met with counterparts from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Sri Lanka, Bahrain,
    the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Laos on the sidelines of the UN General
    Assembly held in New York. Additionally, the Romanian official met with his
    Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto. According to a Ministry release, the
    two officials looked at ways to improve bilateral relations, based on the Strategic
    Partnership between the two countries, EU and NATO membership and mutual
    respect. Talks focused on topics of mutual interest, especially supporting the
    European track of states in the Western Balkans and the need to diversify
    energy transport routes, in order to ensure energy security at regional and
    European level.




    LAW ENFORCEMENT – The Romanian Police has identified
    32 vehicles wanted internationally. Eight were reported as stolen in the United
    Kingdom, five in Belgium and Spain each, four in Italy, three in Germany, two
    in France and one in Poland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania
    each. The Romanian Police recommends prudence to people who want to buy a
    second-hand vehicle in trade fairs abroad and to ask the buyer for all the proper
    car identification documents.




    GUAM – Ex-soviet states making up the so-called
    GUAM group – Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Moldova, will
    join efforts to consolidate their positions and defend territorial integrity,
    GUAM officials said as part of a GUAM Parliament Assembly held in Chisinau.
    GUAM officials have criticized Russia’s involvement in fueling territorial
    conflicts and military aggression, particularly in Georgia and Ukraine. GUAM
    was set up in 2006, with the aim of developing cooperation between members,
    consolidating stability and joint security at European level. The Republic of
    Moldova is currently holding the rotating presidency of GUAM. Chisinau is
    facing increased pro-Russian separatism in Transdniestr, a region the broke
    with Moldova in 1992 in the wake of an armed conflict that killed hundreds and
    that ended with the military intervention of Russian forces.




    TSUNAMI – The Romanian Foreign Ministry has conveyed
    its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of Friday’s earthquake
    and ensuing tsunami that hit Sulawesi Island, the Republic of Indonesia, which
    killed hundreds and left scores wounded or missing. The Ministry also expressed
    compassion and solidarity with the Indonesian people and authorities, also in connection
    to the high number of victims and the level of damages. Most casualties were
    reported in Palu city on the western coast of the island.




    RECORD – 4,807 people, mostly high-school children
    from all over the country, on Saturday set a new world record in Alba Iulia,
    central Romania, making up the largest human image of a country. The map of
    Romania had the number 100 highlighted at its center, standing for the
    celebration of the Great Union Centennial in 2018. The previous record was held
    by Myanmar, where 3,466 people made a human representation of their country in
    February 2018.




    TENNIS – Romanian tennis players Irina Begu and
    Raluca Olaru on Saturday lost 7-5, 6-3 to Olga Danilovic of Serbia and Tamara
    Zdansek of Slovenia in the women’s doubles final at the tournament in Taskent,
    Uzbekistan, totaling 250 thousand dollars in prize money. Olaru has previously
    won the Taskent doubles twice, in 2008 alongside Olga Savchuk of Ukraine and in
    2016 with Ipek Soylu of Turkey. Begu won the women’s singles in 2012.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • September 29, 2018

    September 29, 2018

    TREASON CASE – The Directorate Investigating Organized Crime and
    Terrorism in Romania (DIICOT) has announced that it has closed a case based on
    the high treason accusations brought by Ludovic Orban, the president of the
    National Liberal Party in opposition, against Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă.
    According to the Directorate, the case, which concerned the memorandum approved
    by the Government with respect to the relocation of the Romanian Embassy from
    Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, was dismissed because no breach of the law has been
    established. The criminal complaint filed in May by Ludovic Orban also
    concerned Liviu Dragnea, the president of the Social Democratic Party in power,
    who was accused of unlawful disclosure of state secrets, Orban said at the
    time.




    MEETING – Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu
    met with counterparts from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Sri Lanka, Bahrain,
    the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Laos on the sidelines of the UN General
    Assembly held in New York. Additionally, the Romanian official met with his
    Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto. According to a Ministry release, the
    two officials looked at ways to improve bilateral relations, based on the
    Strategic Partnership between the two countries, EU and NATO membership and
    mutual respect. Talks focused on topics of mutual interest, especially
    supporting the European track of states in the Western Balkans and the need to
    diversify energy transport routes, in order to ensure energy security at
    regional and European level.




    LAW ENFORCEMENT – The Romanian Police has identified
    32 vehicles wanted internationally. Eight were reported as stolen in the United
    Kingdom, five in Belgium and Spain each, four in Italy, three in Germany, two
    in France and one in Poland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania
    each. The Romanian Police recommends prudence to people who want to buy a
    second-hand vehicle in trade fairs abroad and to ask the buyer for all the
    proper car identification documents.




    GUAM – Ex-soviet states making up the so-called
    GUAM group – Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Moldova, will
    join efforts to consolidate their positions and defend territorial integrity,
    GUAM officials said as part of a GUAM Parliament Assembly held in Chisinau.
    GUAM officials have criticized Russia’s involvement in fueling territorial
    conflicts and military aggression, particularly in Georgia and Ukraine. GUAM
    was set up in 2006, with the aim of developing cooperation between members,
    consolidating stability and joint security at European level. The Republic of
    Moldova is currently holding the rotating presidency of GUAM. Chisinau is
    facing increased pro-Russian separatism in Transdniestr, a region the broke
    with Moldova in 1992 in the wake of an armed conflict that killed hundreds and
    that ended with the military intervention of Russian forces.




    TSUNAMI – According to authorities in Indonesia,
    some 400 people were killed in the earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit
    Sulawesi Island on Friday. Most casualties were reported in Palu city, hit by
    tsunamis measuring three meters in height. The coms and power grid are
    temporarily offline, while images flooding public media reveal dead bodies
    amidst debris along the shoreline, international news agencies report.




    HANDBALL – The Romanian women’s handball team
    is today playing Poland’s B team as part of a training campaign ahead of the
    European Championship hosted this year by France. The tournament will take
    place over November 29 – December 16. Romania was drawn in Group D along with
    Norway, Germany and the Czech Republic. At the European Championships of 2016,
    Romania was ranked 5th.




    TENNIS – Romanian tennis players Irina Begu and
    Raluca Olaru on Saturday lost 7-5, 6-3 to Olga Danilovic of Serbia and Tamara
    Zdansek of Slovenia in the women’s doubles final at the tournament in Taskent,
    Uzbekistan, totaling 250 thousand dollars in prize money. Olaru has previously
    won the Taskent doubles twice, in 2008 alongside Olga Savchuk of Ukraine and in
    2016 with Ipek Soylu of Turkey. Begu won the women’s singles in 2012.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • February 16, 2018 UPDATE

    February 16, 2018 UPDATE

    Visit — The Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila goes on her first foreign visit, and will be in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday. She has scheduled meetings with European Union leaders, among them European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, and European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu. The prime minister has said that her purpose for the upcoming period is to enhance foreign policy interactions and economic relations with partner states.



    Munich – North Korea is a threat to all NATO member states, said Friday the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, on the fist day of the Security Conference hosted by Munich. The 54th annual conference is being attended by more than 500 high-ranking officials from across the world, among them 20 presidents and prime ministers, joined by many security experts. Attending the conference will be the British Prime Minister Theresa May, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will not be joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who declined to attend the event. Her country will be represented by Foreign Minister Sigman Gabriel and Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. Romania is represented by its defense minister, Mihai Fifor.



    Sofia — The Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu participated on Thursday and Friday in Sofia in the informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU member states. The Romanian official hailed the initiative of holding a new conference on Syria in Brussels and reiterated that the EU should play a pro-active role in the political process under the UN aegis and then in the post-conflict reconstruction process. In another development, he highlighted Bucharest’s interest in continuing the EU’s enlargement policy, given that this is one of the priorities Romania will be promoting during its first mandate at the helm of the EU Council in the first half of 2019. The developments in the western Balkans and the North Korean file were also on the agenda of talks.



    Police — Preventing and fighting corruption among policemen and reforming the Romanian Police are the priorities of this institution’s management. Other priorities are reducing crime, renewing the car fleet and dealing with understaffing. Attending the meeting occasioned by the presentation of the Romanian Police report, PM Viorica Dancila said that a project for the reform of the institution was needed after, last year, the Police was faced with several serious cases that shook people’s trust in this institution. The interior minister, Carmen Dan, herself said that a real change was needed within the Romanian Police, which means setting up certain mechanisms and staffing the police with well-trained people.



    Flu — Another two persons have died of flu in Romania, the death toll this winter reaching 32 – the health authorities have announced. There are more than 500 people suffering from flu, mostly in Bucharest and in the counties of Constanta, in the southeast, Olt, in the south, Brasov (center) and Iasi (northeast). The authorities have recommended people to get vaccinated but the Health Ministry announced there are only 80 thousand doses available. So far, 920 thousand people have been vaccinated. According to health minister Sorina Pintea Romania is not faced with a flu epidemic at present and prevention measures are most important.



    Chisinau — The suspended mayor of Chisinau, Dorin Chirtoaca, on Friday announced his resignation, underlining that he gave up his position in sign of protest against the current government. Following his resignation, the Moldovan government will have to organize early local elections in Chisinau. Chirtoaca was suspended in July 2017 following his prosecution in a corruption file. He was taken into custody in May 2017 and placed under home arrest. He is charged with influence peddling in a case involving paid parking in Chisinau.



    Doha – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, world no. 2 player, on Friday defeated the American Catherine Bellis (48 WTA) 6-0, 6-8, in the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Doha, Qatar. The tournament has total prizes up for grabs worth 3.1 million dollars. On Saturday, in the semifinals, Simona Halep will be up against Spanish Garbine Muguruza, world no. 4 player. On Thursday another three Romanian players, Sorana Cîrstea (38 WTA), Mihaela Buzarnescu (43 WTA) and Monica Niculescu (92 WTA) were eliminated in the last eight of the tournament. (news translated and updated by Lacramioara Simion)

  • Paedophilia scandal in the Romanian Police

    Paedophilia scandal in the Romanian Police

    The plot is as simple as it is sordid. On January 5, cameras in the elevator of an apartment building in Bucharest recorded the sexual assault of a middle-aged man against two children, brother and sister, aged 5 and 9 respectively. The horrified children told their parents the entire story as soon as they got home, and the parents filed a complaint with the police. All television stations and websites aired images of the suspect, and on January 9 the attacker was identified and detained. The public outrage and repulsion were instantly augmented by general perplexity: the paedophile is a policeman. Aged 45, he has been a driver with the Road Police Brigade since 2010, and previously he had worked for the gendarme corps for 20 years. Himself a father of two, the policeman had been accused of sexual assault before, but the cases had been dropped for insufficient evidence.



    In a first stage, the Social Democrat Interior Minister Carmen Dan ordered an immediate, all-encompassing assessment of all senior officers in the Romanian Police, and thorough psychological testing of the staff of public order services. She voiced her discontent with the way in which police chiefs handled the two cases involving sexual assault against children, in which the policeman had been previously involved.



    Carmen Dan: “I feel that we are facing the same superficial approach and the same lack of responsibility on the part of the leaders of the Romanian Police. I haven’t seen, these days, any of the chiefs of the Police services to present explanations to the public with respect to this case.”



    The Minister wondered how serious and strict the psychological testing of the Road Police agent had been, what his recent ratings were in terms of professional performance, and how it was possible for none of his superiors to have noticed his conduct since 1990, when he was employed in the police system. Carmen Dan took a firm stand: starting with the Police Chief Bogdan Despescu, all those senior police officers must go.



    The Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea says, in his turn, that a thorough analysis is necessary with respect to the management of the Romanian Police, and that the way in which the agent’s psychological testing was conducted must also be looked into. On the other hand, the right-wing Opposition mentions that Mrs Dan has been at the helm of the Interior Ministry for a year now, and she should be the first to resign. As for the media, analysts believe that one of the senior officers that the Minister wants to sack, the head of the Murder Investigation Service with the Bucharest Police, Radu Gabris, is actually a persona non grata because he publicly criticised the criminal law changes that the Social Democratic Party plans to introduce.